Five best Test match knocks by JP Duminy

#3 100* vs Sri Lanka, Galle 2014

Against Sri Lanka in 2014, Duminy hit 100* on a slow and low Galle track

In South Africa’s first Test post the retirement of the great Graeme Smith, Duminy stepped up responsibly to fill in for Smith’s absence at the top and the vacancy created in the middle-order by Jacques Kallis’ own Test retirement.

On the spin-friendly track of Galle and against the wily left-armer Rangana Herath in his own den, Duminy displayed a sturdy character to grind out two essential partnerships – 75 with Vernon Philander and 66 with Morne Morkel for the eighth and ninth wicket, respectively – and drag South Africa to a healthy 455, after which they declared.

A gentle innings of exactly a 100 kept him unbeaten as he defended strongly and timed his drives to perfection on a slow and low surface where Dilruwan Perera ran through the South African batting line-up with essential wickets of Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock, with the latter two scoring composed fifties.

In yet another match which brought him wickets, Duminy’s useful part-timers accounted for the legendary Kumar Sangakkara in the second innings as the Proteas aimed to set a decent platform with Sri Lanka in pursuit of an unlikely target of 370. The visitors won by 153 runs.